About

Cornpone

Opinions MatterMark Twain’s essay “Corn-Pone Opinions” was all about how people in society follow trends, even when they do not like them. In the beginning of the essay Twain talks about being fifteen and how he loved to hear this black man’s sermons. His mother forbids him to listen to these sermons because the black man was a slave. He then goes on to talk about how “a man is not independent, and cannot afford views that might interfere with his bread and butter” (1400). He is trying to say that if you do not have the same ideas or opinions as you neighbors you could possible damage your social standing and business prosperities. Later on Twain talks about how we all have to approve ourselves by the approval of others, “it is our nature to conform; it is a force which not many can successfully resist” (1402). For example when a new fashion trend comes along like the feather in the hair, one person has it then everyone else start to do it even if they do not like it in order to feel like they fit in. Eventually this trend will go out of style and if you are seen wearing it you will get laughed at because it is not what is in style anymore. Another essay “Harrison Bergeron” written by Kurt Vonnegut talks about a bleak future where everyone is the same. Vonnegut’s story ties in with Twain’s essay because it is about a future where every one is the same. If a man was tall he was tied down with weights to balance out someone of a lesser size, if someone was gorgeous they would have to wear a hideous mask to cover it up, etc. I agree with Twain’s and Vonnegut’s argument about conformity, people tend to agree with the majority.

Does anyone really have an original opinion? I agree with Twain, that there are no original opinions. “It was his idea that there is such a thing as a first-hand opinion; an original opinion; an opinion whish is coldly reasoned out in a man’s head, by a searching analysis of the facts involved” (1400). We all base our opinions...

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...Question: Examine the importance of the slave trade to the development of the plantation economies. The slave trade was vital to the development of plantation economies, which could only expand and survive in the West Indies with the use of slave labour. The slave trade brought enslaved Africans from Africa to colonies in the West Indies, which had begun to take part in the "sugar Revolution" starting in 1640. The plantation system which essentially is the organization of agriculture on a large scale usually producing a single crop such as sugar, coffee, cocoa and tobacco, small farmers were pushed out and a few large plantation rose up to take their place and the combination of these large plantations formed the plantation economies so the colonies became large monocrop producing units . Agriculture on a large scale needs a large labour force which works for low wages or none at all so as to maximize the profitability of the plantation, in the west Indies there was plenty of land and capital which are essential for production but the labour was not present there to sustain plantation economies, so therefore labour had to be found and after many unsuccessful attempts, slave labour from Africa solved the labour problems of the planters and made the vital link between the plantation economies and the slave trade. The slave trade provided the labour, which was the backbone of the plantation system, without labour no production is possible and it soon became more profitable...